Clock mechanism



Apr 7, 1954 e. D. M NEIGHT CLOCK MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 21, 1951 Inventor George Denzil McNeight Q; 2% I A ttome April 27, 1954 D. MCNEIGHT 2,676,455

CLOCK MECHANISM Filed Aug. 21, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor George Denzil McNeight A ttomeg 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 21 1951 v 14 IIIIIHM will Inventor George Denzil McNeight Attorney Patented Apr. 27, 1954 George Denzil McNeight, West. Kirby,

land,

assignor to S. Smith & Sons (England) Limited, London,

England, a British company- Application August. 21, 1951;, SQIEiaLNQ-cMZ- SM Claims priority, application Great. Britain August 28, 1.950

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to clock mechanisms and has for one of its objects to provide a pendulum of pleasing and attractive. appearance which includes one or more models each representing a. figure in the act of performing a to and fro movement on a swing.

Further objects are the conversion in a simple manner of a lever movement into a pendulum movement, with the pendulum adapted to swing in a plane normal to the clock face as distinct from parallel thereto, and also the provision of means by which the mechanism. may be readset into beat by an inexperienced person, independently of the manner in which the clock mechanism is supported.

According to the present invention the usual balance wheel and hairspring, which are nor mally controlled by a lever escapement, are omitted from the clock mechanism and in their place a pivotal lever of the escapement hasv a pin and slot or other lost motion connection with one arm of a bell crank lever, the other arm of which constitutes a part of a pendulum which has a swinging motion about an axis normal to that of pivotal displacement of the escapement lever in its control of the timing of the escapement and the mechanism generally.

Preferably the pivotal escapement lever extends beyond a side boundin plane of the framework constituted by the front and rear plates and their spacing pillars. In such event the pendulum may be in the form of a loop the ends of which are swingingly supported by a transverse bar which is pivotally mounted on the rear plate of the framework and is adjustable relatively thereto for the purpose of setting the mechanism into beat with the pendulum swinging about a truly horizontal axis.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a clock, the mechanism of which is housed within a glass casing which with the mechanism is supported by a base member.

Figure 2 is a rear perspective view of the clock of Figure 1 but with the glass casing removed.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view also with the glass casing removed and Figure 4 is a detail showing the escapement lever, a part of the escape wheel and an arm at one end of the pendulum.

In the clock construction illustrated a framework constituted by front and rear plates H), H appropriately spaced and interconnected by 2 pillars. I2 is mounted on a pair of columns l3 supported by a base M which also carries a glass casing it for the framework and its associated mechanism.

A winding 01- mai nspring 4.8 is carried by the framework and constitutes the source of power supply for the train of wheels. leading to the hands of the clock. This train embodies in known manner a winding wheel I! in engage ment with a pinion 80. ona centre shaft is which rotates in Lmison with a centre or so called first wheel l9 rotatable with a minute hand of the clock dial 2!. The shaft it also has keyed to it a pinion. 22 which meshes with a toothed wheel 23' the pinion 24$ of which meshes with a wheel 25 rotatable in unison with the hour hand 25 of the clock.

in its association with the regulating mechanism for controlling the speed of the motive power stored in the mainspring it on winding thereof, the centre or first wheel 13 meshes in the usual way with apinion 2? of a. so called second wheel 28 which in turn meshes. with a pinion 29 of a so called third wheel 30. The latter meshes with a pinion 3! of a fourth or escape wheel 32.

The escape wheel 32 has peripheral teeth 33 between which a pair of pin pallets 34 on an escapement lever 35 are adapted to engage in well known manner for checking the rotary movement of the escape wheel 32. This escapement lever 35 is pivotally mounted on, for angular to and fro movement about, a spindle 36 and may be formed by integrally or rigidly interconnecting an arm to a segmental part so as to form a radial extension thereof or again by separate segmental and lever elements angularly displaceable in unison on the spindle 3B.

The outer end of the lever 35, in the construction illustrated, extends outwardly beyond a side bounding plane of the framework and conveniently is bifurcated to form a slot 31, which alternatively however may be closed. This slot is adapted to receive an arm 38 of a right angled bell crank, which with the other arm 39 of the bell crank forms one limb of a wire hoop constituting the upper part 43 of a clock pendulum, and thus provides a lost motion connection between the lever 35 and the pendulum part 43 to enable both to be angularly displaced in unison about axes which are normal to each other.

A hook 411 is formed between the arms 38 and 39 at one end of the pendulum wire while a hook 4| is formed at the other end thereof said hooks being carried at opposite ends of a transverse 3 bar 42 which thus forms the axis about which the pendulum 43 is adapted to swing.

For adjustment purposes the transverse bar 42 is pivoted at 44 to a limb 45 rigidly connected at 46 to the rear plate ll) of the framework.

This adjustment of the transverse bar and thus the axis of swing of the pendulum is desired for enabling the clock to set into beat independently of the manner in which its mechanism is supported, 1. e. independently of the location and regularity of the supporting surface for the clock and whether the mechanism as a whole is maintained in an upright position or in one which is slightly inclined to the vertical. In other words, in order to ensure an even beat, i. e. that gravity operates equally on both sides of the centre of, to and from displacement of the pendulum about its axis, the position of the arm 38 of the bell crank lever is adjustable for engagement with the lever 35 when in its central position, and this adjustment is effected by adjust ment of the pivotal positions of the loop ends which in turn is effected in a simple manner by displacing the bar about its pivot it.

It will be appreciated that an adjustment of this nature lies within the capabilities of the average individual that is to say in normal cir cumstances it will not be necessary to seek the aid of a clock expert for the purposes of effecting adjustment of the mechanism in order to set this into beat despite the lack of support of the mechanism in a truly vertical position.

For the purpose of smoothing the motion of the escapement and the pendulum, the latter may be formed of relatively displaceable parts, that is to say the yoke of the pendulum 45 may carry a detachable wire or other loop 41 constituting a swing on which a device 48, such as a doll, animal or other figure is carried, the height of the figure 48 being adjustable relatively to the swing il in order to adjust the load of the pendulum and thus its effective length, for the purpose of regulating the timing of the mechanism as a whole. Alternatively the figure 48 or figures may be adjustably mounted on the loop 43 forming part of the bell crank lever, in which event of course the effective length of the loop 53 must be such as to meet the timing requirements.

While the drawings illustrate a clock mechanism adapted to be supported in a glass case on a base member it will be understood that the invention may equally be applied to a clock mechanism the framework of which is adapted to be hung on a wall or other vertical or substantially Vertical support.

I claim:

1. A clock mechanism comprising a framework, a dial, hands, trains of wheels for displacing said hands, a power supply for said wheel trains, an escapement including a pivotal escapement lever, a pendulum one limb of which is of bell crank form having a lost motion connection with said pivotal escapement lever, a transverse bar mounted on said framework normal to the pivoting axis of said escapement lever and constituting the axis about which said pendulum swings, and means pivotally mounting said transverse bar on said framework for rocking about an axis parallel to said pivoting axis of the escapement lever and in a plane containing said axis of the swing of the pendulum to permit adjustment of the axis of swinging of said pendulum.

2. In a clock mechanism having a framework, a dial, hands, trains of wheels for displacing the hands, and a power supply for driving the wheel trains; the combination of an escapement including a pivoted escapement lever, a transverse bar extending normal to the pivoting axis of said escapement lever, a pendulum having two limbs swingably mounted on said transverse bar so that the latter constitutes the swinging axis of said pendulum, one of said limbs of the pendulum being in the form of a bell crank and having a lost motion connection with said pivotal escapement lever, and means pivotally mounting said transverse bar on said framework for rockable adjustment in a plane containing said swinging axis of the pendulum and about an axis parallel to said pivoting axis of the escapement lever and disposed between said two limbs to permit adjustment of the swinging axis of the pendulum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 62,330 Heninger Feb. 26, 1867 231,770 Davies Aug. 31, 1880 248,900 Watts Nov. 1, 1881 381,626 Junghans Apr. 24, 1888 4=OO,753 Davies Apr. 2, 1889 449,016 Wakeman Mar. 24, 1891 

